What is a Cloud Contact Center?
A Cloud Contact Center is a central point of contact hosted on Cloud Servers which handles all incoming and outgoing communications with customers from any location around the world. It supports multiple communication channels such as voice calls, emails, social media, web forms, and more. With India’s 29% Social Media penetration, businesses are increasingly turning to Cloud Contact Centers to provide customers with their preferred choice of communication.
Common Problems Faced by Traditional Contact Centers
Traditional contact centers face a number of issues when communicating with customers, such as:
• Difficulty managing multiple communication channels
• Long call and message routing times
• Time-consuming agent management
• Limited analytical tools and dashboards
Benefits of Cloud Contact Centers
Cloud Contact Centers provide businesses with several advantages, including:
• Integration of different communication channels into one system
• Cloud hosting which eliminates the need for hardware resources
• Advanced analytics and insights
• Automated and interactive voice responses for call-routing
• Scalability and flexibility
• Cost savings and efficient resource management
Differences Between In-House and Cloud-Based Contact Centers
When selecting the best call center software for your business, it is important to understand the differences between an in-house and cloud-based contact center:
• In-house contact centers require costly hardware resources and maintenance. Cloud contact centers are hosted on cloud servers, reducing hardware costs.
• In-house contact centers require manual setup and configuration, while cloud-based contact centers are ready to use with minimal setup.
• In-house contact centers require manual management and monitoring, while cloud-based contact centers provide automated tools for management and monitoring.
• In-house contact centers have limited scalability, while cloud-based contact centers are highly scalable.
• In-house contact centers have limited analytics and insights, while cloud-based contact centers provide advanced analytics and insights.
Onsite Call Centers
Overview: Onsite Call Centers provide a setup in which all networking hardware, applications, and facilities are housed and maintained in the office. IT teams are in charge of implementation, repair, and upkeep.
Advantages: Dedicated networking servers come in a variety of configurations and are managed internally. This eliminates the need for third-party support and allows call routing mechanisms to be modified on the fly.
Disadvantages: Startup costs are higher and the company must provide physical storage space for servers.
Cloud-Based Software
Overview: Cloud-based contact center solutions are hosted offsite by a corporate phone service provider. Users access the system via an interface on their computer or mobile device.
Advantages: Data is stored in the cloud, and the associated servers are either operated by the internet provider or leased from a third-party. This eliminates the need for on-site servers and allows users to be added more easily.
Disadvantages: Requires internet connections with enough bandwidth to serve all users and other activities. Also, third-party support is needed for modifications and troubleshooting, making it less scalable than on-premise solutions.
Hybrid Hosted
Overview: Hybrid hosted solutions are a mix of onsite and cloud-based software, combining the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Advantages: Costs are lower than on-premise options and no physical storage space is needed for servers. Also, users can be added easily and call routing mechanisms can be modified on the fly.
Disadvantages: Third-party support is still required for modifications and troubleshooting, making it less scalable than cloud-based solutions.
Browser-Based
Overview: Browser-based software is a type of cloud-based computing with an interface accessed via an internet browser.
Advantages: This solution eliminates the need for an installed program, and most cloud-based systems can have both in-browser and downloadable app versions.
Disadvantages: Users must access their phone system and dialer from an internet browser, which can be slower than an installed program.